Maria Duval - Finding The Gift In Every Situation

Finding The Gift In Every Situation
When life places obstacles in our path, when things seem like they're breaking down and we grow weary of the struggle, it's a good time to step back and look for the gift. What gift, you say?

Every situation and experience in life holds a gift, lesson or blessing for us. Yes, even the really painful experiences, like the loss of a loved one, an automobile accident, or natural disaster. There is a gift there, if we look for it.

To find the gift, we simply have to ask ourselves, "What positive lesson can I learn from this? How can this situation benefit me? What wisdom can I gain from this experience? What makes this situation worthwhile to experience in my life?" We can learn from anything in our lives, from a snag in our pantyhose to a migraine headache. We can learn from our disappointments, our heartaches, and our joy.

We can do this with any situation too, not just negative ones. Where is the gift in a boring Sunday afternoon, a crying infant or a gray, rainy wedding day? All we need to do is choose to see the positive side of the situation. The gift of a boring Sunday afternoon might be expressing gratitude for having some free time to express our creativity or enjoy a good book. A crying infant can teach us patience, compassion and nuturing. A rainy wedding day can help us understand what really matters, the celebration of love and meaningful connections with our friends and family.

Of course, when truly wonderful things happen to us, we don't need to really look for the gift then, do we? We already know what it is. During the happier moments of our lives, we can further honor this positive energy by expressing our deepest gratitude and joy. Rather than just feeling glad about our good fortune, we can purposely focus our thoughts on massive amounts of joy and gratitude, and consciously immerse ourselves in happiness. We can shout our thanks to the heavens and affirm that we welcome even more blessings in our lives.

Choosing to focus on the positive side doesn't mean living our lives in denial. It doesn't mean refusing to acknowledge the negative or mundane aspects of our lives. It means we see them, we accept them, and then we look beyond them rather than getting mired in negative thoughts and letting them affect the rest of our day.

Looking for the gift means choosing to lift our thoughts higher than our struggles. It removes us from our victim status and empowers us. No matter what happens in our lives, we have the ability to choose our attitude and our mindset. We can choose to focus on happiness, joy, love and gratitude, or we can stay mired in unhappiness and struggle.

Focusing on the gifts and blessings in our lives won't make all of our problems vanish overnight, or at all. But it reduces their importance and helps them to fade into the background a bit. We create in our lives what we focus on the most. By choosing to focus on the positive, we attract more positive energy into our lives.

Stop for a moment and look at your surroundings right now. What gifts or lessons are available to you in your current circumstances? And will you choose to embrace them and fully benefit from them?

Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer who strives to motivate, uplift, and inspire you to make your dreams a reality. Visit her website, http://www.WingsForTheHeart.com for more positive thoughts to help you on your journey.

Self-Talk: How to Talk Your Way to success
OUR CONSCIOUS AND SUBCONSCIOUS MINDS We all have a small voice inside our head talking to us all the time. You probably just heard it say, "What small voice?" Every one of us is the result of what that little voice has been saying to us over the years. We are either the victim of, or the benefactor of those words. Tom Monahan was a very productive member of my sales staff a few years ago. During one of our Monday morning meetings, I asked Tom for the name of the prospect he was just describing, and his response was, "I don't remember. I can never remember names." I asked Tom if he thought it would help in his career if he could actually be better at remembering the names of people he meets. He responded and said, "Sure, but I just can't remember names." I then gave him the first tip. I said, "Stop saying that you can't remember names." Psychologists tell us that we have both a conscious and subconscious mind. Our subconscious mind is the world's most powerful computer. It does exactly what it is told. No more, and no less. Our conscious mind acts as the computer programmer, giving instructions to the computer, our subconscious mind. Tom's programmer, his conscious mind, was programming his computer, the subconscious mind, to forget any name he hears, because he "can't remember names". His subconscious mind accepted that command without question. AFFIRMATIONS Affirmations are statements we make that we believe to be true, and they affect our behavior. For years Tom repeated his affirmation, "I can't remember names", so that now his subconscious mind paid no attention to names he heard. My strategy for Tom was to change his affirmation from negative to positive. For affirmations to have the most positive effect, they must include the "Three Ps", � Positive — If Tom's affirmation was phrased as, "I will stop forgetting names", the affirmation is simply a reminder to the subconscious about his long history of forgetting names. It must be phrased as a positive. � Present Tense — If the affirmation is, "Someday I will be good at remembering names", the results will not come, become "someday" never arrives. � Personal — The affirmation must be something that you can accept and believe, not mere words you heard somewhere. In Tom's case, the affirmation that he decided to use was, � "I'm getting better all the time at remembering names", which was clearly o Positive o Present Tense o Personal. I told him to write that affirmation on 3x5 cards and carry them with him, clip one to the sun visor in his car, on his bathroom mirror, on the alarm clock, and anywhere else he will see it on a daily basis. I told him his results would be guaranteed if he repeated that affirmation at least 25 times in the morning, 25 times at midday, and 25 times in the evening for the 21 days it takes to form a new habit. GOALS One of the keys to making progress is being able to measure it. My management philosophy has always been, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it", and the clearest way to measure progress is by setting goals. I asked Tom if he would be meeting anyone for the first time in the next week, and he replied, "Sure. I'm in sales. I meet new people every day." We then set a goal for him to come back the following Monday and give me the name of someone he met, along with a description of them. When asked if he could commit to that goal, he replied, "yes". I then also had him write down the goal on 3x5 cards to carry with him and place them in highly visible locations. The following Monday Tom came into my office with the biggest grin I had ever seen. I asked if he met his goal. He said, "I have the names of FOUR people I met, and I can describe all of them them in detail". He then said, "You know, I really AM getting better at remembering names." Tom no longer had a problem with names. CONCLUSION What instructions has your inner programmer been giving to YOUR subconscious mind? How often is it saying, "can't" or "won't"? Make the decision today to turn your life in a more positive direction. Resolve today to create some new affirmations for yourself, with the 3 Ps: Personal, Present Tense and Positive. Set goals to measure your progress, and begin a new, more positive, stress-free life. Remember the old saying, "If you think you can, or you think you cannot, you are absolutely right!"

Howard Tangler has devoted more than 30 years to helping people live their dreams. Henry David Thoreau said, �"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation�. Tangler has guided countless thousands of people out of that misery to a life they dreamed of, but never thought they could achieve. They now found they could live their dreams every day when they followed his advice and counsel. His tips and strategies have proven their worth over the years. To learn more about what Howard Tangler has to say, click the link, http://www.StressFreeLifeStrategies.com

The 2 Modes Of Expressing Yourself �" Which Mode Do You Use Most?
We find that there is 2 ways of looking at any situation we
may find ourselves in. For instance you may have heard the
saying…

“Is the glass half empty or is the glass still half full?”

These 2 ways of expression may well refer to the same
situation, yet if we examine them both we will see that
they actually divide the world around us into light or
darkness, into positive or negative, into plus or minus.

Now which of the 2 modes do you use most when you
are thinking everyday?

Your mode of thinking leads to attracting those very
things into your life. If your goal is to make more
money and spend less time working, then you are going
to have to focus on thinking about success, and not
fearing it.

If your thinking is all dark and negative… if you always
fear failure, then you will most definitely fail. Even
to run away from your given circumstances will do you
no good. You see your circumstances will only follow
you wherever you go.

This is because your environment and present
circumstances cannot change for you until your mind
and heart does!

You cannot become unhappy if there is no doubt or
negativity in your mind, to make you unhappy.

Researchers state that the average person thinks about
70,000 thoughts each and every day. Now just imagine
the potential of your thoughts if only a fraction
were backed up by positive modes of thought and
creative action.

Unfortunately for most men and women, virtually all of
these thoughts are the same ones that the individual
has always thought about over a long period of time.

In addition, the great majority of these thoughts are
negative by nature, which in turn creates a current
negative present time in your life…

A good example of this is that most people do not
believe that wealth and prosperity is a lifestyle
choice which is fully within their own control…

Many people hold the belief that the only way they
will ever get rich is by robbing a bank, breaking
the law or by winning the lottery etc…

Other people’s skepticism can also be just enough
to kill your desire - to pursue what may have
otherwise been a fantastic opportunity for you.

Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well,
and nothing that is worth doing well can be done
without positive effort!

Still though, many people work themselves to the
bone instead of spending more time with their
creative thought because they are ruled by fear
and by pressure to “make something of themselves”
that society expects of them.

How many of your 70,000 daily thoughts are spend
on worry and fear as opposed to the creative and
positive process?

Don't let fear and worry rule over your life
anymore. Use your mind power to attract every
positive thing in life which you could ever
hope for or desire.

Go for your dreams and ignore anything else but
your creative positive mind.

Try to never take what negative-people say to you
seriously… as it is sure to discourage you from
your efforts, but this is only if you let it do so!

Dale Odeyemi, is the developer of a great new resource on personal power and development. So if you would like to get your hands on 10 Mind-Power Lessons at absolutely no cost to you whatsoever? Then simply visit http://www.YourMindPowers.com Create the life you desire - Starting Right Now...

ACTIVATE THE ENERGY OF THE UNIVERSE
Did you know that you can not create energy yourself? You can just activate the universal energy, which exists always and will always exist. This Energy gave you life. It’s always there, at every moment, for everyone. There is no such thing like people with a lot of energy and other ones without energy. The difference is that energetic people know how to activate this always available energy. And the low energy people, they block this energy, which is although always available for them too! Energy does not decide something like :”Hey I like this one so I will send her energy, and the other one over there I don’t like so he won’t get any of my energy”. This is nonsense! The same counts for diseases. A disease does not “choose” a body to attack. How would it do it? Can you imagine a cancer saying : “I don’t like the way he cuts his hair, so I will attack his liver?” or “I can’t stand the way she talks so I will attack her breast?” There is no such thing. It would be absurd. We have much more to say to our body and our life than we can understand for now or than we will want to admit for ourselves. Because to understand this is to take responsibility. Once we know that we “ask” for disease - by thinking of it all the time, by running from one doctor to another, by reading all articles about diseases in magazines, by telling our friends and family about all our pains and troubles - than we have to change our behavior and start to behave like a healthy person, who tries to understand why he got ill, and tries to see how he can change his way of thinking and handling to stay healthy. It’s much the same for energy. Energy is always there. It never goes away, it never slows down, otherwise our whole galaxy would fall apart. The same energy which holds the stars at place in the sky, which makes grass grow and turn the earth on his own axis, is available for us. Can you imagine? It’s tremendous and there for us! You can activate this energy for you by thinking the right thoughts, that is thoughts which stimulate you instead of turning you down, thoughts which bring you health instead of disease, thoughts which make you feel loved instead of fearing loneliness, thoughts which bring you wealth instead of poverty. Is thinking about all this nice stuff enough to bring it into your life? No! Otherwise it would be so easy just to lean back and think about everything you want and floops….it’s there! We all would be fairies and make the world whatever we want without doing anything. Luckily it doesn’t work like that! It would be dangerous! We need something else to make our thoughts create what we want : it is action. The combination of both will give us what we want : dreaming about what we want and putting ourselves into action, that is taking steps in the direction of our thoughts. At each step we take, the universe also takes a step toward us. By our thoughts and our actions we activate this enormous universal energy to work for us. We make it move in the direction of realizing our dreams. So the formula is pretty simple : first you dream, than you take action in the direction of your dream. This will generate energy to help you take the next step. The energy generated by this step will help you take the next step. And so on…. How do you know which action to take? Follow your guts, follow your intuïtion. It’s the best guide you can find! Stop worrying. Instead dream, think of what you want and get yourself moving in the direction of your dream. That’s it. Watch what’s happening. Let the mystery unfold itself.

Written by Ineke, psychologist, mother of four children. I offer you two free e-courses to learn who you are, why you are here, how to create passion, freedom and abundance! Say yes! Reward : an everlasting enthusiasm!

Help Yourself to a Better Life
The self-help industry has always been plagued by a bad reputation of being filled with hucksters who only care about making a fast buck and who aren't really concerned with actually helping other people. The products and services offered by self-styled gurus are often thought of as the next generation of the snake oil salesman, who'll be off to the next town with your money before you realize you've been taken with a lot of false promises.

It's easy for unscrupulous people to prey on those who feel hopeless and out of control. A snazzy sales page suggesting that a product is the solution to a reader's problems will draw people in, and the writer may not care if their book or product really helps people, as long as they get the sale.

Behavior like this can give the whole industry a bad name, but the truth is there are a lot of people out there who really are dedicated to helping people and to changing the world one person at a time.

If you do a little digging, which is easier and easier to do online, you can find out all about the "gurus" and find plenty of blog posts, web pages and reports about the success or lack thereof that people have had from different products. Of course you'll probably find mixed reports on everyone who's ever put out a product, but if an overwhelming number of people seem to have a negative opinion of a person or product, that's one you'll want to shy away from.

If, on the other hand, you're finding a lot of people singing the praises of a particular writer or method, that might be something worth checking out. For instance many people have reported very positive results from reading and watching "The Secret" and following the methods outlined there to change their lives.

Not only can you read and study "The Secret," but you can also check out the works of people featured in the movie and the book such as Abraham and Esther Hicks and Joe Vitale. You can infer from liking the tone and message of "The Secret" that you will like their products and their message as well.

Likewise if you find some other book or website that you like, look at the people who have written blurbs for the book or offer testimonials for the product. They might have other products or ideas that you would find attractive.

The main thing you need to do when seeking self-help advice is not to just give a bunch of money to the first person you come to online with a snazzy sales page and a lot of big promises. Do your homework, ask people you know if they've used a product or read a particular book, and learn all you can about the guru in question before handing over any money.

In the end, choosing self-help materials does involve a bit of a gut feeling, but it should be a gut feeling backed up by a reasonable amount of research.

Marisa Singhnarinaath is passionate about helping people solve life's problems through self-help products and understanding the law of attraction. Learn more at Self Help Product Reviews.

99 Octane Motivation Fuel
Keep them Euphoric: 5 more ways to turbocharge employees.

These are five additional ways that you can successfully create an encouraging work environment while increasing employee.

1.Distinguish your employees. It is essential that you empathize with your employees. Know about their family; know about what they do after hours, what interests them. This is not meant to be prying into an employee?s personal life, but knowing an employee can help you to resolve what motivates that employee. Different people are motivated by dissimilar things. What does the employee want? What do they want from this job, from their life, and for their future? Reaching goals can be difficult. Helping someone to reach a goal at work is impossible if you do not know what that goal is.

2.Discover more. It is your responsibility to create enthusiasm in the workplace. Therefore it is up to you to continue to study innovative ways to spur employees to action. You might opt to take classes that offered as short courses at HR firms or online universities. This will give you a fabulous opportunity to continue to learn new ways to stimulate your employees

3.Splurge special time with your employees. Take a few minutes out of your day to just talk with your employees. Give them an opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns or simply ask how their week went. This will demonstrate how much you care about his or her happiness within the company. You can also schedule performance reviews either once a month, once a year or however often is comfortable for you. This will allow you time to sit down and spend a little more time with the employee and give you a chance to discuss the highs and lows of the period in which the review is accomplished. Positive conversations, even on a casual level are a great way to increase employee motivation. Schedule one-on-ones and leave titles at the door.

4.Understand the employees? feelings about their career. Most employees start out in a job on the bottom with hopes of advancement. One way to increase employee drive is to discuss the likelihood of advancement or lateral movement within the company structure. It might be a different position, or a promotion, in a sister company. Your employees should know that you care about the things that they care about. Let them know that you are there to help them achieve their goals and they will give you 110%

5.Be transparent. You as a manager know what it feels like when a higher up seems to be keeping something from you. Even though there may not be a secret, the big boss still hasn?t informed you on what is going on. Your employees may feel this way consistently. It is very important to keep employees informed about issues that arise in the company even if it does not directly affect them. Employees want to know about the company and they want to be involved. It is a good idea to have regular ?catch-up? meetings, just to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Prepare employees if a major event is going to happen, such as a leveraged buyout or inspection by the CEO. Another way to explode inspiration among employees is to hold consultations when the company is planning on changing existing policies. Invite feed back from the employees and ask if they have any ideas about how to resolve the issue.

You as manager holds the keys to create a work environment that beneficial for company and employee growth. Sun Tzu asserts that ?You are only as strong as your weakest link?. Increasing motivation among employees will make each link a little stronger and forge a tougher backbone for the company.

A master of manifestation to his associates, Joseph R. Plazo offers intense executive coaching so people can find jobs and build careers.

The Value Of Associations
This past week I ran into a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in quite some time. It was good to see him again, at least for a few minutes.

Then I remembered why I stopped associating with him in the first place.

The guy has a big heart, and you can't help but love him. Unfortunately, he is also an incessant whiner.

He is always going on about how he doesn't make enough money with his job, and how things never seem to go right for him in life. No matter what you say to him there is no shaking his loser mantality. He has chosen to be the victim in life, and to be quite honest I think he enjoys it.

But it doesn't stop there. It's not enough for him to mope and complain about his own life, he does his best to bring the people around him down as well.

He asked me how my 'little internet business' was going. Remember it's been a long time since we had spoken last.

I certainly didn't want to rub anything in here, so I just told him politely that things were moving along and that I had quit my job as a delivery driver last year.

I could see the irritation in his face. This guy was genuinely distraught over my success.

He gave a grunt and said "Well good luck."

But he didn't really mean 'Good luck'. What he meant was 'I hope you fall flat on your face and have to go back to your old job so I can feel better about who I am'.

He's a loser because he projects nothing but negative energy into his own life, and he wants everyone around him fail and be miserable alongside him. No thanks.

I spent just a couple more minutes chatting with him, then told him I had to run.

I really do wish him the best, but I'm certainly not going to spend my precious time letting him sap the life out of me with his pity party no-hoper mentaility. There are plenty of positive, success-minded people for me to hang out with and that's where I prefer to spend my time.

There is a lesson to all this, and here it is.

Think of the most successful person you know. For our purposes today, let's define success as financial and emotional prosperity. This should be someone you know on a personal level, and not a character you've read about in your favorite business or glamour magazine.

Now, ask yourself who this highly productive individual associates with. Chances are the group of folks you identify with this question won't be a bunch of lazy, negative, self-pity freaks.

Now try the same excercise with the least successful individual you know. It's not too likely that your selection for "least successful" is a person who surrounds themselves with positive, productive human beings.

The kind of people we surround ourselves with will have a profound effect on our thought patterns. Since it's safe to say our reality starts with our thoughts, the value of our personal associations can hardly be overstated.

To spend the majority of our time around people who offer us doubt and discouragement is to limit ourselves to a bleak shadow of our full potential. Alternatively, by mingling with those who project confidence and optimism, we are sure to absorb an attitude of determination and tenacity. It's good practice to socialize with individuals who reflect our aspirations.

People who want to whine and complain about how unfair life is, and how they just can't seem to 'get a break' are bad company. Especially when these people want to project their misery and negativity onto you.

One of the best things you can do for your own success and happiness is give these losers the boot and find some happier, more productive people to associate with.

Tim Whiston is a full-time entrepreneur and internet marketer. He publishes a monthly ezine, and is the author of a popular e-book entitled From Zero to Profit.